María Zardoya of the band The Marías explores her feelings of love and loss on her debut solo album, “Melt.”

Under the artist name Not For Radio, Zardoya created the album with artist-producer Sam Evian and producer-instrumentalist Gianluca Buccellati within the cold months of upstate New York.

“Melt” is ethereal, blending sounds Zardoya has and has not explored with themes of love in its natural form. Zardoya gets a lot of inspiration from the natural world, as seen in the song “Swan,” inspired by the strong bonds formed by swans.

“Swans mate for life,” Zardoya said on a podcast. “There’s so many species that mate for life. And that’s such a beautiful thing and a dreamlike state of being like, ‘I choose you.’”

“Swans” is Zardoya at her finest. The backing track is simple and haunting, with keyboards that scale up as Zardoya sings about finding the person for life.

In a Spotify voice note for “Swan,” before the release, Zardoya said, “Love in nature isn’t grand, but it is simple. It’s woven into migrations in rivers and forests, in the mushrooms sprouting from the moss, cracks and frozen lakes.”

Nature is heard throughout the album. The synths and instruments Zardoya uses evoke the same feeling as walking through a nature trail in the dead of winter, hauntingly alone yet incredibly peaceful.

In the song “Magnet,” Zardoya sings, “In the trees, by your window/So far away, so far/They will sing my love for you/So far away, so far.” Like a princess, she connects nature to her love.

The track “Puddles” opens the album by bringing the listener down a stream of melodic notes. “Puddles” sounds like a river in the forest and Zardoya’s voice quietly sings over the track like a forest fairy casting a spell with the river’s water.

She sings, “Puddles and puddles, I picture us there/Walking in circles and talking in stares/I’m seeing double, I’m already scared/Scared of what losing feels after we dare.”

Zardoya is Puerto Rican and has had at least one Spanish song in most of her works. On “Melt,” the beautiful song “Vueltas” sings, “Dejarte ya/Quítate, que no queda más que amarme más/Amarme más en mí/Sin ti, sin ti (To let you go now/Step away, there’s nothing left, but to love myself more/To love myself more, within me/Without you, without you).”

While Zardoya noted that the album and her work as “Not For Radio” would be different from The Marías’ work, there is still much influence from the band. The same melodic beats remain strong on “Melt,” and the album does sound like something the band would produce. That being said, Zardoya does an excellent job of exploring new themes of love in this album.

“Melt” is another hit by Zardoya. Her siren-voice brings listeners in to hear about her experiences of love and loss, the beauty and the pain.

“Melt” is an album to be listened to in its entirety. As every song, beat and lyric blend into one another to create this piece of art. Zardoya’s music career continues to grow with each release and fans are excited to continue to watch her career and music blossom.